


Free Play

by longlost10



Series: Petra's Journey [3]
Category: Ender's Game - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-24
Updated: 2014-01-24
Packaged: 2018-01-09 20:25:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1150427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longlost10/pseuds/longlost10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A delve into Petra's psyche weirds her out just a little.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Free Play

Free time was like recess. They could do anything their heart desired, within reason, but Petra hated it. The other boys in her launch group had already made their friends and formed their groups and she had no place in there. It made free time a bit boring. She just felt awkward and they weren't all excited to let her in. It wasn't like she excelled at the things they struggled with and they hated her for it, they just didn't get along. Kids make friends and they exclude the others. It's how children their age worked and she didn't really hold it against them.

It had been a few months and she did have friends… they just weren't in her launch group. She wasn't a complete loner and she took pride in that. Weirdly. Along with Dink, Petra started studying with some kids in their astronomy class. Radovan was nice enough, although he often jumped to conclusions and incorrect answers, Owen didn't exactly get the martial right away but worked hard and Hector had a way of daydreaming during their study sessions. Granted, she wasn't much better, always off doodling on the side. Dink routinely had to nudge her elbow to get her to focus.

Normally she'd be off hanging with her friends, but there was a riff in their launch group and Dink warned her to stay away. Boys and their testosterone… she would happily stay far away from the mess. Plus, it was another launch group- they had their own dynamic and they didn't need her butting in.

Instead, she was sitting on her bunk with her back against the wall, holding her desk on her lap, exploring the interface. There were the typical applications such as a text editor, homework submission, even a little journal application where the more emotional kids could vent about their feelings.

On her first day right before lights out, she had opened her desk and opened the virtual journal. She knew the other kids in her launch group expected her to go crying into it. Part of her wanted to ignore it just for that reason, but instead, to remind her why she was in the Battle School, she made a single entry.

_Watch me soar._

Back when she was younger, her father would often lay on his back and pick her up, supporting her on the flats of his feet. She would pretend she was flying, sometimes weightless, dreaming of the Battle School she had heard so much about. One particular occasion came to mind as she sat in her bunk.

_"Mama!" She had cried with joy, pulling her mother from the kitchen where she was baking for both her own family and the neighborhood children. Petra held out her hands and leaned with her dad's feet. "I'm flying!" Her mother enjoyed the smile on her daughter's face and walked over, picking up the small child and lifting her over her shoulders, walking around in a small circle._

_"Look at my little astronaut." Her father sat up and watched his wife and daughter laughing._

_Mother tossed her up slightly and caught her in his eyes. "Like a leaf in the autumn wind." She smiled at Petra, brushing a stray hair out of her grinning face. "My baby girl soaring above the world."_

It was one of her favourite memories from her childhood, along with being one of the earliest, and she kept it close to her heart. Whenever she was in the Battle Room and she was getting picked on by the other boys, she forced herself to remember the memory, reminding herself why she was here.

Petra smiled at the memory as she moved away from the journal application and opened up the lone game on the system. It was a silly fantasy game where the player chose a character and then led it through all sorts of different areas. Each area had different themes and puzzles and it was almost fun. It got boring though, as things got rather predictable fairly quickly. The idea of it was that it would adapt to the player's skills and challenge them based on the program's findings. That was the rumour anyway.

She didn't believe half the rumours here anyway. She couldn't determine how much was truth and how much just scared little kids talking out their ass.

Focusing more on the desk in front of her, she found her character standing on top of a crypt in a cemetery. She didn't remember coming towards the cemetery or even the path that led to it, but it had been a few weeks since she had played the game. Three different characters stood amongst the tombstones which formed a fairly complex maze.

One of the characters, a quirky redheaded girl, looked up at her and shouted. "Zombies and vampires are coming! Tell us where to go! We'll take care of them!"

The second figure, a black haired male looked a bit nervous. "Yeah. I'm full of that good old kamikaze spirit."

"Nick, please." The third voice came from the last character who was wiping his glasses clean. Unlike the other two, who seemed about early high school age, this man seemed a bit older. "Just because this is never going to work doesn't mean we have to be negative."

A loud groan, much like a stereotypical zombie, came from the screen. "Allison! They're by you."

"No, Anthony! They're over on your third."

The figures all seemed to scramble around, not being able to see over the headstones barriers. "Shut up." Her figure's voice was low but commanding. "Three vampires coming up on Nick, take a right and then a left. Allison, second right and you have a zombie-vampire duo. Anthony, straight ahead, two vampires. Move." There was little hesitance in her thought process as the three figures darted off in their respective directions.

Petra held her breath as the characters followed out her instructions. Nick had a little bit of trouble, but that was simply because there were three of them. Anthony proved to be the best natural fighter of the three, but Allison was fairly resourceful.

Soon enough, all the monsters were slain and the characters were doing silly celebratory dances. "Focus." Her character's voice made the three stop in their tracks. "I hear more."

And that was the process. A wave would come, Petra's character would give thought out instructions and the three would carry them out. Between each wave, the time allowed for them to rest and let their health restore became shorter.

"Nick! You have a straggler! Heading right for Allis-" Her character was cut off as something threw her back onto the hard pavement of the mausoleum. A tall figure was standing over her… bearing fangs. Eyes wide, she brought her leg up, kicking him square in the groin before rolling away and dropping off of the building. She didn't land gracefully, but it allowed her to grab a stick off of the ground before clambering to her feet.

Strong arms grabbed her and forced her against the wall of the stone structure, her head instantly overwhelmed with pain as it met the hard material. "Petra! Need a little help here…" Nick's voice was filled with fear as the vampire's grip tightened around her throat. He wasn't the only one who could use a bit of help.

The white fangs gleamed in the moonlight as the vampire's face grew bigger, nearing her throat.

"Mind your back, Allison!" Anthony's words told her that they were taking care of themselves. Or at least that's what it seemed like. With a bit of funky maneuvering, she moved the stick in her hand into a more horizontal position and thrust forward. The vampire gave a theatrical groan, dropping her to the ground and grabbing the stick-wound before bursting into dust.

She got up, coughing slightly from the dust and looked around, on her guard. Nothing seemed to be lurking about so she ran to a nearby tree and started climbing. When she got high enough, she carefully balanced herself on a branch and inched out away from the trunk. After a minute of steeling herself, she jumped, resulting with her chest being slammed against the marble of the crypt. With a sharp breath, she swung her legs over the side and rolled onto the roof before jumping to her feet, surveying the area once more.

Upon looking out to the graveyard, Petra's stomach immediately sank to the bottom of her shoes. The redheaded Allison was lying in a pool of blood only a few shades darker than her hair which seemed to originate from her neck. Nick was slumped up against a gravestone right beside her, his eyes empty and staring at the full moon above them. Anthony was a few yards away, holding his stomach, trying to keep the organs from spilling out. Not that it mattered much anyway. Petra could tell by the look on the older man's face that the time to help him was long over.

The screen grew dark and red words flashed across the center of the screen.

**Game Over**

Petra sighed and exited the game, staring at the desktop with a heavy sigh. It wasn't the first time that she had lost in that section of the alternate reality game before. Despite knowing what's to come, she could never manage to coordinate everyone's movements in a way that let all three computer characters and herself survive the random attacks.

Despite the insane amount of times she had lost and the amount of tears she had shed for them, she couldn't help the amount of mild self-loathing that emerged from the two stupid red words.

A loud noise disrupted her thoughts, causing her to look up off of her desk and towards the front of the room. Brennen stood in the doorway, smiling as if it was his honour to disrupt their leisurely activities. "Play time's over kiddos. Time for dinner." The air was full of excitement as the boys around her jumped off their bunks and started walking in groups. Petra took her time putting away her desk and sliding off her bed. The room was nearly empty by the time she headed towards the door and followed the pattern of red brown green, her mind lost in thought.

The rest of their evening was spent in a classroom for an hour and a half before going to the gym for the last hour. They were given a half hour to shower and change into bed clothes, if they preferred.

Most of the boys didn't.

Back on ground school on the first night Petra spent with the group, she admitted to being a little uncomfortable being naked in front of them. She got undressed under the covers and kept her clothes for the next morning close at hand so she could slip them on quickly before too many eyes strayed her way. Not that she had anything to flaunt, she looked just like any of them for now, but it was something she picked up from her mother.

It took about two nights to beat that decency out of her.

So when most of the boys started stripping for bed, Petra was right there with them, occasionally poking fun at Hendrik's small endowment with those around them. Thankfully, it was not a night which Hendrik would point out that while his was small, he had one at all and that was more than Petra could say. When the lights flashed to give them warning for lights out, Petra crawled into her bed, fairly content with her life in space.

They had been in Battle School long enough that the cries and whimpers for mothers, fathers, siblings and pets were far gone. Now, during lights out, the only sound that could be heard were the soft breath of children and the occasional grunt or snore. Petra's gaze pierced the darkness and drilled a hole into the dark space above her head, willing herself to sleep.

It was harder than expected and she listened to the soft hum of the machine which pumped breathable air into the room for what seemed like hours. When her eyelids finally started to weigh heavily on her, she felt a wave of relief. Waking up tired was not desirable in Battle School.

Her relief was short lived, as dreams came and went throughout the night… and they were terrifying. She refused to let herself wake up so with every nightmare she merely turned over in her bunk and tried again.

One of the most horrifying to her featured the characters from the fantasy game. It was set in the graveyard, same as the game, but instead of commanding the others, they took turns pulling her by chains in different directions. Vampires and zombies would emerge from gravestones and take bites out of her, leaving her full of crevasses and still alive.

Infections would overcome her, limbs would fail but she wouldn't die. The game wouldn't end. Nick took pleasure in literally putting dirt into her open wounds and making her cry out in pain. It was worse when they teamed up. Anthony tied her against a casket that had yet to be buried while Allison flicked matches on her open chest.

"Look." Allison walked towards her in an elegant way, almost like she was moving with the wind. "Puppy's unhappy. She doesn't like pain does she?"

Nick gave a brutal laugh. "It wouldn't be too much of an issue if she could fight back while giving us hate glares." Petra struggled against her restraints as best she could before a gasp of terror came out of her mouth. Anthony was standing above her with a handsaw.

He brought it down in one swift motion and Petra shot up in her bunk, breathing heavily, her blankets thrown into a corner of the mattress. The boy the next bunk over, Luz, was looking at her groggily.

"What?" She snapped, fuelled by fear and the tiniest hint of embarrassment of being seen waking up from a nightmare. They were supposed to be soldiers- nightmares shouldn't affect them anymore.

He gave a small shrug. "You were shouting."

"So that justifies you staring at me?"

"I was waiting to see what you'd say next."

"I'll give you a hint, it's a curse followed by the name 'Luz'." Petra bent forward and grabbed the lump of blanket and worked on getting them untangled.

"I don't doubt it." The blonde boy turned his back on her and let her finish her task in silence.

With a bit of a shaking hand, Petra pulled the blanket over herself once more and closed her eyes tightly. Sleeping wasn't going to be easy tonight, she realized, as she was pulled yet again into the graveyard of her nightmares.

The next morning they were woken up by Brennen and told to put on their flash suits- they were starting their day in the battle room before breakfast. Classes would fill the rest of their day. There was minimal protests as the group got out of bed and slipped on the white suits.

During the process, Petra made eye contact with Luz and steeled herself, ready for anything the other boy could throw at her for the night before. Unsurprisingly, the boy turned to her.

"Your suit is going to fall out of your locker." He pointed at her day suit in the locker and, sure enough, it was seconds from falling.

It caught her by surprise, but she nodded and pushed the suit back into the small compartment before shutting it quickly. Her future self could deal with the suit falling out of the locker. Petra stared at Luz, almost stunned, before a sound managed to come out: "Thanks".

Why didn't he mock her for having a nightmare? One that was so bad she was shouting in her sleep and actually woke up in a cold sweat? Her hand shakily put her dao into its holster.

People were strange.

The day passed smoothly after that, with Petra taking slight pity on Luz, for whatever reason, and sending him small smiles throughout the day. It wasn't much, and it wasn't reciprocated, but it was really the only thing that brought the smile to her face at all that day. Dink was still busy with his launch group so he couldn't eat with her at lunch and classes were fairly boring.

It wasn't that they were easy, she just wasn't invested in it. It didn't catch her attention. It wasn't until they were talking in an astrophysics study session did she start to pay attention.

"Gravity's a funny thing." One of her group members said, clearly trying to avoid the reading on moons that they were assigned. "As soldiers it can easily be both a weapon of great power and our worst enemy."

There was a sigh of exasperation, leading Petra to finally look up from her book. "Ori, give it a break. We're not here to learn about gravity. We're here to learn about how to deal with the absence of it."

Ori put down his pen, clearly they were getting into a discussion. "So as commanders we're only allowed to partake in combat located in open space? What would the buggers say if they attacked tomorrow and the IF said 'Oh I'm sorry, we have to move outside of the solar system… at least by the asteroid belt- do you mind'?" He used a deep voice to imitate the announcer on the IF propaganda vids.

Despite the eye rolls that were sent towards Ori, Petra could see how he had a point. Sure, it wasn't one of their main fields of study (was it even covered at all?), but any weapon is a weapon in the face of battle. "Well, think about it." She said, sitting up a bit more. "We managed to control it on the space stations-"

"Did you even know how to make artificial gravity on a space station?" A rather obnoxious boy, David, asked the two of them. Before either could respond, David continued, his pretentious voice only one aspect which fueled Petra's desire to punch him in the face. "Rotation. Centrifugal forces that pull those inside the station to the outside."

"I know what a centrifugal force is, Dave" Ori snapped. "That's why the Battle School is curved the way it is. I hear once you get into an army, their barracks are so big that you can practically see the curve of the ship right there."

Another boy was about to open his mouth to happily encourage the change of topic but David cut him off. "That's not the point. What Mother Petra here was implying that we could shoot a planet; turn the gravity off at will."

"I didn't-"

"Gravity isn't like the guns we use in the Battle Room-"

"How do you know?" Petra snapped. "We don't know what's being developed. New weapons come out every day. New technology. You don't think the IF, with all their pulls and people working with them, that they can't make something you've never thought of?"

David sighed deeply, clearly reaching his limit. "It's not that I've never thought of it, it's just simply not possible."

Petra gave a look at the boy across the table, asking for the bit of human kindness she found in Luz earlier in the day. "Ori-"

The other boy held up his hands in mock surrender. "Don't pull me into this. I only mentioned that it could be a decent tool to use in battle if it's already there. You're the one who wanted to use it in the form of a weapon." This earned him a hate glare sent in his direction as Petra turned back to David.

"What about the gravity drives on ships? That's a basis for something, right? I don't know the technicality of it but I'm sure it's possible." She said.

"You're completely insane." David muttered, returning his book. "You don't know the technicality of it because it's impossible. If it hasn't been done already, it's not worth it."  
"Or it's still being developed."  
"Only in your mind. Which doesn't seem to be on this plane of reality." He muttered, jabbing his paper harder than was probably necessary. "Now shut up with your stupid theories. What did you get for the third problem, Wahhd?"  
The lights flashed throughout the classroom, signaling the end of the study period. Petra grabbed her book and desk in a single swoop before angrily striding out of the room. As she turned the corner, she could make out the whisper of Ori at the desk: "She's crazy, neh?"  
"Crazy as a loon, my friend."

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't realize that I was going to write another chapter.  
> So that's interesting. Thanks for sticking with me.  
> Let me know what you think and if you're interested in more. The comments on the last two chapters actually helped inspire this one/motivated me to write this one. So thanks again!


End file.
